CARLSBAD  Dave Mirisch has seen it all and done it all in the sports promotion business.

He was Wilt Chamberlain’s press agent before most athletes even knew what a publicist was.

Mirisch, a Carlsbad resident, will turn 76 next month, and the stories he can tell, the people he has represented, would wow anyone.

He started in the family business, selling candy to movie theaters. After his three uncles and later his father moved to Hollywood to get into the real movie business, Mirisch became the field man for the Mirisch Film Co., which produced movies for United Artists such as “Some Like it Hot,” “The Pink Panther,” “West Side Story” and “The Great Escape.” Mirisch would go on the road to a city before a movie would open, talking to reporters and trying to create buzz.

“That was my first taste of public relations,” Mirisch said. “I learned under some incredible people.”

From there he went to work for Hollywood entertainment agency Rogers and Cowan, the premier talent agency in Hollywood in the late 1960s and early ’70s. His job every morning was to read every publication he could get his hands on and highlight the ones that mentioned Rogers and Cowan.

“From that day forth, I haven’t slept past 5 a.m.,” Mirisch said.

After a year there, he started his own agency with Millicent Braverman, who handled radio and TV publicity. Mirisch handled the print side. He represented musicians Herb Alpert, Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, Perry Como, Petulia Clark and Tom Jones and actors such as Omar Sharif, Lynda Carter, Lindsay Wagner, Leonard Nimoy and Bob Crane and talk-show host Merv Griffin.

Trabert approached Mirisch one day, seeking help to promote his tennis camp. Mirisch came up with the idea to start a celebrity tournament, and his career in sports event promotion was born.

For 30 years, he did publicity for the Victor Awards, which benefits the City of Hope Cancer Center in Los Angeles. If you name a prominent athlete or celebrity, you can be sure Mirisch met them at the Victor Awards.

“My job was to invite the top athletes and coaches in America,” said Mirisch, who eventually was given a Victor Award for his work.

He made sure to pick the athletes up at the airport whenever he could. Mirisch recalls meeting Shaquille O’Neal for the first time.

“He got in the limo and propped his foot up on the seat,” Mirisch said. “My wife and I had never seen a shoe that big. We get to the hotel and he walks in, sits down at a piano and starts playing.”

Since 1950, Mirisch has kept large scrapbooks chronicling major sporting events. He still reads four newspapers every day, cutting out the major headlines. He’s offered them to the San Diego Hall of Champions after he’s gone.

Mirisch saw how much press the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders were getting for the franchise at a time when no other professional sports teams had cheerleaders. He went to Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom in 1978 and told him he would start a cheerleading squad.